UPT Board Meeting Notes 10/1/18 Episode 16: Hodge Podge Dodge

The October 1 Board of Supervisors meeting was held at the Oaks Firehouse.

Again.

I am not sure if this is a quasi-permanent change in venue until the new meeting hall is opened or why this change of venue was dictated by the Board. Recall that the Board was previously meeting at the Rec Center, but since September, they have been meeting at the Oaks Firehouse.

No need for a bigger meeting hall.

Was the change made to avoid still-angry Rec Center members from stopping in to a Board meeting after their few remaining workouts? Was it made as a concession to the BRVFC? The change of venue could not have been because the Rec Center room was too small to accommodate the public, could it? After the Democrats campaigned so diligently against the new building, I’m sure they’d be completely content to continue to ignore residents standing outside the glass, being unable to participate in the meetings.

Since the purpose of this change in venue was never announced, sadly, we can only engage in rank speculation as to the cause of it. At least we know the end is in sight, as in response to a question during public comment, Tim Tieperman announced that after some water problems in the existing building, they should be able to hold meetings in the new meeting hall by November.

I could share my random thoughts!

Pearson’s tiresome “short story” this evening is not a short story at all, but as he calls it, a random collection of “thoughts.” It appears that this week, he actually is just reading bumper stickers and he’s more nervous than usual. Even though I mentioned this in the previous Meeting Notes only as a commentary and not as actual advice, the overall depth and usefulness of the philosophy remains constant.

Thanks for reading, John!

Vagnozzi was not present, which left Barker to shoulder all of the heavy lifting alone for this meeting.

The meeting clocks in at a fairly reasonable 1:21. There’s a veritable cornucopia issues to cover and, along with that, so much responsibility to avoid. Let’s dive in, shall we?

High Water Mark

The Township’s Emergency Management Coordinator, Rich Ressel, approaches the Board to explain a proposal to put another flood gauge in the Township. Upper Providence has a flood gauge on the Schuylkill River down by the Reynolds Dog Park; this is a proposal to put one on the Perkiomen Creek. The proposal needs to come before the Board because the best location for the flood gauge is on the County-owned Arcola Road Bridge and the Township needs to enter into a contract with the County in order to place it there.

As long-time residents know, the Perkiomen Creek is very susceptible to flooding and tends to rise and fall rapidly during stormy conditions.

Pearson then claims that he goes out on the FEMA website to get statistics on the Schuylkill River. He wants to know if we are going to be able to pull this information up online. Speaking of the Schuylkill flood gauge, Pearson says, “It’s a good tool for me for where I have a property, so…uh…”

If I could just…SEE….that flood gauge…….

Ressell says that will be available “eventually.” He also says that our Schuylkill River flood gauge is the only flood gauge in the country with its own Twitter feed, where people can get updates every 20 minutes. According to Ressell, The USGS will not put a flood gauge on their website until there are two solid years of data available. At this point, the Schuylkill flood gauge has only been active a little over a year. The same thing will be true of the proposed Perkiomen Creek gauge, but, according to Ressell, that information will be available to “us.” I am unclear as to whether this means Township employees or the general public. The Schuylkill Twitter feed is available to the public and can be found here. Presumably, the Perkiomen Creek flood gauge will have the same Twitter functionality, but the proposal here is for a camera as well, so folks can actually see how high the creek is.

Imagine how useful this will be for someone who, for instance, owns a kayak rental business! Someone whose home fronts the Perkiomen Creek and whose Canal Street business fronts the Schuylkill!

The man’s kayak flipped over when it hit debris. Officials say he was hanging onto that debris when he was rescued.

The woman’s kayak did not flip but emergency crews helped her out of the water.

Officials are warning people to be careful around rivers in the area after the past two weeks of heavy rain.

Missed Appointments

You can always tell when Pearson doesn’t want to have too much discussion on an issue before the Board. When the agenda item to appoint attorney John Muir as a professional consultant regarding Fire and Emergency Services matters comes up, he tries to curtail any discussion and immediately asks for a motion:

I think…I’m, I’m pretty sure we all know what this is all about. Ehhh, we wanna hire this guy to give us some direction to get us moving in the right direction with our fire and emergency services situation. So I’ll just entertain a motion on that.”

Not so fast.

Barker wants to know: “Will he not come before the Board to do a presentation of some sort?”

Bresnan says that the direction he got from the joint meeting with Trappe was that all parties wanted to move forward with Muir as a consultant. Further, Bresnan’s direction from staff was to move this forward as quickly as possible so the joint Trappe-UPT committee can begin to have meetings regarding Fire and EMS.

Barker says he is willing to take him on as a consultant, but if the Township is unable to work out an agreement with Trappe, then Muir will have nothing to do.

Bresnan responds that this is just preliminary to get the ball rolling and see Muir’s fee schedule. Barker agrees to that and makes the motion to appoint, which passes unanimously.

Moving right along, Pearson continues on to the next agenda item, which is an event fee waiver, but before we move on, Gentle Reader, there is the small matter of the two missing agenda items, highlighted on the agenda below.

I know, I know: “It’s just a DRAFT!”

Agenda Item 8 is to put two Supervisors on a joint committee with Trappe to hammer out the details of a regionalized Fire and EMS department with Trappe Borough.

Agenda Item 9 is to put two Trappe Volunteer firefighters on the building committee. This committee will provide input into the design and specifications of the Township’s proposed new centrally located Fire and EMS building.

Recall that previously, the Fire and Emergency Services Steering Committee to Implement the Glorious Milestones on the Road to Fulfilling Campaign Promises made on Quizzo Night had appointed only BRVFC members and Township staff to this committee, there were no volunteers, representing either EMS or Fire, from any of the Township’s other responding organizations, though, presumably, they would have been using this building as well. Interestingly, there were two Trappe Volunteer Firemen in the audience, yet no one was present from BRVFC, unless you count BRVFC’s non-official, non-spokesperson Lori Kasper.

Why were these items tabled, but the appointment of John Muir was not?

Caution: More Rank Speculation Ahead:

I would assume that the appointment of Muir was necessary in keeping the timeline for moving forward with the joint Trappe-UPT meetings simply because Muir represents an outside third party, and they cannot afford to dawdle with his engagement. After all, the Township is committed to the consulting attorney per the joint meeting on September 20. The appointment of the two supervisors to the joint committee and the appointment of the Trappe Firefighters, however, those could be, and were, put off until the next meeting, October 16 because they are appointments internal to the municipality.

My guess is that Pearson simply did not have enough cover, or guts, at the October 1 meeting to be seen as a leader continuing to steer the township away from its previously determined (and promised) course (as outlined in the “Draft” documents found HERE) on Fire and EMS. And though I truly wasn’t paying attention, I would bet that I was not the only recipient of a glare from Mrs. Kasper—who, to be clear, per her facebook page (which has since gone private) is NOT affiliated with the Black Rock Fire Company, no matter how much she presumes to speak for them or involve herself in their business. Indeed, Pearson couldn’t scurry to her side fast enough at the conclusion of the meeting. Would a discussion of a Quizzo night strategy warrant his anxious rush to have a hushed conversation with her?

Taking for Grant-ed

The Township’s Traffic Engineer, Ken O’Brien talks about the Black Rock Trail connection from Route 29 to the Township campus. PennDOT recommended that the right turn lane from 29 on to Black Rock Road be improved, as the turn is too tight and trucks cannot properly make the turn, and they are consistently running over the curb and damaging it. The cost for the change order is $38,140.98.

How about another $38,140.98?

Barker wants to know: what was the total amount of grant money the Township received for this project? O’Brien says the Township initially requested $250,000 and the state approved $196,000. The estimate for this project was $205,000 before the PennDOT requested change order. The Township has already spent $75,000 in engineering and inspections.

Doing the math, Barker notes that the Township is approaching $300,000, leaving them on the hook for about $100,000 for this project and asks O’Brien if they will increase the grant. O’Brien says he does not anticipate that they will, but that he can ask.

It’s a problem making the motion to approve the change order, because neither of Pearson’s Girls® is quite sure how to do it. Eventually they “move to make a motion” and end up approving unanimously.

Code Breakers

Most of the last half hour of the meeting is spent by the Board— rather, just Phil Barker— discussing the Administrative Code. For the uninitiated, the Administrative Code is essentially the law, or ordinance, that determines how the Board of Supervisors will govern.

So in other words, it’s THEIR code. It’s kind of a big deal–at least it should be— for that reason.

Phil’s got this. Nothing for us to do but sit on our hands.

Unsurprisingly, Barker appears to be the only one who has done his homework on this issue. Pearson’s Girls® did not even bother to bring their laptops to this meeting, so they have no documents to reference for this, or for any other agenda item at the meeting. Pearson, who has his laptop, doesn’t squint at it at all. They sit on their hands and look at Barker, while Barker reads and discusses questions he has marked up and annotated on his printed copy of the proposed code.

Ironically, the Township’s Administrative code has not been updated for many years, but the expansion of the Board of Supervisors makes these changes to it quite a bit more of a necessity. And Pearson, who along with his Upper Providence First Worst PAC, drove the expansion of the Board. Now that he has satisfied his goals towards increasing his own personal his power, he apparently has no interest in dealing with the ramifications of the very initiative he championed.

For all of the Democrats, it’s like this whole issue affects someone else.

And sitting in the audience, it was abundantly clear that none of them had read the document.

I get it. Some of this township stuff is pretty dry. I understand that to the average layperson, development plans, engineering, sewer, fire and emergency services, etc. can be pretty dry stuff.

So I’m left wondering: Why in the world did these folks campaign for these jobs?

These Democrats wanted these jobs so badly they walked miles, knocked on hundreds of doors, talked to hundreds of people, (well, Higgins walked miles, knocked doors and talked to voters; Calci accompanied her a couple of times. And Pearson only hung out back at the Fitz, to “hold down the fort”). They also spent thousands of dollars and told countless lies in order to get these jobs. And now that they have these jobs, it truly seems like they have no idea what they are supposed to be doing, and they show little interest in figuring it out.

I have no responsibility here whatsoever.

It’s like they came in with a little personal to do list and if the mundane business of actually, you know, governing the Township comes up, they leave the heavy lifting on that to Barker and Vagnozzi.

To be clear, it doesn’t matter whether they are interested in a particular subject or not, or whether they can politicize it, or whether it’s on their list of particular hobby horses: they are responsible for all of this stuff, and the least they could do is make an effort to appear interested and informed. Thus far, only Higgins has shown sporadic flashes of this type of engagement.

I understand Pearson’s interest in being a Supervisor, even though I think he’s the worst one we’ve ever had. Pearson came in with an agenda and made promises to his cronies. He has yet to deliver on his sponsor’s agenda, and his success in delivering his own agenda has thus far been mixed at best.

But Higgins and Calci I just don’t understand. I find I am constantly asking myself why anyone would do all that work to win an election, and then sit up on a dias just to be a “Yes Girl” to Pearson’s Agenda of Petty Revenge and Favor Granting. Why would anyone sign up to take responsibility for Pearson’s embarassing and ham-handed political manuevering?

It just never ceases to boggle my mind.

Plan ahead

Township Planner Geoff Grace notes that a meeting was held to form a subcommittee of the Planning Commission to look at the Comprehensive Plan. I attended this meeting and submitted a letter of interest in participating in this subcommittee. The development of the Comprehensive Plan update will be a 12 to 18 month process with probably monthly, hour-long meetings. Interested residents should email Geoff Grace at ggrace@uprov-montco.org with a letter of intent and/or a resume, but do it soon.

Just Making a Living

Laurie Higgins mentions that she attended a County program called “Farmer to Brewer” at the property known as Two Particular Acres. Higgins says that it was a good meeting for farmers to meet up with potential buyers so that they can actually “make a living” farming.

Regular readers may recall that Two Particular Acres was the subject of a bit of controversy earlier in the year, as it was the owner of this property who was seeking, and won, a zoning variance to put a cellphone tower on his property. His property is zoned residential and cell towers represent a variance from existing zoning law. Recall also that the previous Board, in concert with the Township’s existing zoning and the wishes of several surrounding communities, sent the Township solicitor to oppose this zoning change.

Recall as well that one of the first actions of the new board this year was to reverse the previous Board’s decision to oppose this action, after which, the cell tower variance was approved.

For the uninitiated, cell tower leases are a great deal for the landowner. Like billboards, owners incur virtually no expense and basically just collect rent. I have no idea how much this cell tower lease was worth, but according to this website, top tier providers, like Verizon, are paying up to $156,000 per year.

An income stream like that would sure take the pressure off having to rely on growing barley and selling it to local brewers, to “make a living,” right?

Speaking of not having to rely on the income from one’s farm to “make a living,” in addition to the Foleys, who own the property, Higgins made a point of mentioning that the Duhovises were also in attendance.

Other Board Business

During citizen comments, resident Chris McQuaid is concerned about a Limerick proposal to put a Restaurant Depot at the Corner of Buckwalter and Township Line Roads and he is looking for help from the Township. As the project in question is in Limerick, Pearson recommends that Mr. McQuaid attend the Limerick Planning Commission meeting, but that the Board will reach out to Limerick Township.

Ashenfelter Road Bridge is not urgent; the repair is recommended to be reviewed in context of the 2019 capital budget. The Board tables this recommendation indefinitely.

The Board approves a restrictive covenant for an in-laws quarters at 137 Buckwalter Road

The Township authorizes the Township Manager to sign a contract with PennDOT for completing improvements with a Green-Light-Go grant award of $232,000 Township Line Road and Linfield Trappe Road. Barker notes that the Township has already spent $125,000 on this intersection, and, addressing resident Mr. McQuaid and his concerns about the Restaurant Depot, notes that Upper Providence has not had much success in the past with cooperation from Limerick. It is noted that there is other money escrowed for this project, contributed by a developer, and is currently the subject of litigation.

The Board discusses a timeline for beginning Budget discussions. The goal is to act on the preliminary budget by November 5, with the final budget by December 3. Big discussion items will be capital items related to Fire and EMS expenditures.

The Township Police Department will be partnering with Lowes at a public safety event on October 20 from 11 am to 3pm

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This blog contains opinions, political content and other stuff I find interesting. My opinions are my own and are not those of any organizations with which I am affiliated. All information included here is true to the best of my knowledge and content included here is for informational purposes only. I reserve the right to run my blog as I see fit, and changes may be implemented from time to time. I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. Read at your own risk, and do not try this at home.